? I am thought, however, to infringe
upon the office of the singing-masters, who hold their position to be
much more exalted than that of the poor piano-teacher. Still, I must be
allowed to repeat that voices are much more easily injured than fingers;
and that broken, rigid voices are much worse than stiff, unmanageable
fingers, unless, after all, they amount to the same thing. I demand of
singing-teachers that they show themselves worthy of their position,
and allow no more voices to go to destruction, and that they give us
some satisfactory results. I believe in fact, in my homely simplicity,
that the whole thing may be accomplished without any mystery, without
trading in secrets or charlatanry; without the aid of modern anatomical
improvement, or rather destruction, of the worn-out throat, through
shortening or increasing the flexibility of the palate, through the
removal of the unnecessary glands or by attempts to lengthen the vocal
passage, or by remedying a great many other things in which Nature has
made a mistake, and on which special doctors for the voice, in Paris and
London, are now employed.

We supply the want of all these by the following little rule:--

Three trifles are essential for a good piano or singing-teacher,--

_The finest taste,
The deepest feeling,
The most delicate ear,_

and, in addition, the requisite knowledge, energy, and some practice.
_Voila tout!_ I cannot devote myself to the treatment of the throat, for
which I have neither time not fitness; and my lady singers are so busy
with the formation of true tone, and in attention to the care and
preservation of their voices, that they only wish to open their mouths
for that object, and not for anatomical purposes. In piano-playing also,
I require no cutting of the interdigital fold, no mechanical
hand-support, no accelerator for the fingers or stretching machine; and
not even the "finger-rack" invented and used, without my knowledge, by a
famous pupil[A] of mine, for the proper raising of the third and fourth
fingers.

My dear young lady, if the Creator has made the throat badly for
singing, he alone is responsible. I cannot come to his assistance by
destroying the throat with lunar caustic, and then reconstructing it. If
the throat is really worn out, may it not perhaps be owing to the
teacher, and to his mistaken management?

Nature does many things well, and before the introduction of this modern
fashion of singing prod